Verve (Slight Return)

Reposting this at a higher rate as I thought it was well worthy[!].

Excellent set; excellently executed and an excellent recording.

What more could anyone with even the slightest interest in The Verve want?

The Verve - Worthy Farm, Glastonbury, 29/6/08.

This is Music
Sonnet
Space and Time
Sit and Wonder
History
Velvet Morning
The Drugs Don't Work
Lucky Man
Bittersweet Symphony
Love is Noise

Excellent rip from DVD captured BBC broadcast @320kbs
ReVerve yourself here

Vital

This 1997 collection makes for a fine accompaniment to the official album release, featuring many tracks that were recorded for Urban Hymns but failed to make the final cut.

That's not to say this makes for a poor listen: because it doesn't.

To say The Verve were hot in 1997 is a gross understatement; they could have recorded 'Agadoo' at that time and it would no doubt have made for an interesting listen.

But there really are some great tracks here, and they could easily have got an e.p. out of this material.
Perhaps the tension was just too much; and with history repeating itself Ashcroft, McCabe and co had to go their separate ways.

There has always been a bi-polar-like duality evident within The Verve's music - most obvious on the Urban Hymns album - veering from the one extreme: a psychedelic styled, kick-ass, gutsy rock band, to another: a singer-songwriter with accompanying musicians.

That opposition is well represented here, as it is made up pretty much fifty-fifty of Verve tracks and Ashcroft songs; several of which he went on to record as solo projects.

There are several familiar tunes here, including a tasty, crisp, live sounding and untweeked recording of 'Space and Time' for openers.

The psychedelic styled roots of the band's music can certainly be heard on several of the tracks, and are perhaps best captured during these early stages of recording.
Tracks such as the instrumental 'One Before Dinner' and the hooky numbers 'A Little Bit of Love' and 'Come On People (We're Making It Now)' allow the band to really shine, proving what a tight, smart, organised rock band The Verve truly were.

With the extra guitar added to the band's pallet, when The Verve kicked-ass and really got down to it a much fuller and richer sound was produced; McCabe's gorgeous, controlled, swirling feedback always lifting and rising; forcing up the tempo, peaking, and finally crashing forward into a heady rush to the end.

For what this is - a bootleg recording from the master smuggled out of the studio - the quality is exceptionally good, and captures The Verve in the studio in a particularly authentic way.
If you are a fan of the band, and especially a fan of this period, this recording is essential, and for some reason still seems to be in very short supply.

The Verve - Urban Hymns Sessions (1997)

Space and Time
A Song For the Lovers
One Before Dinner
Misty Morning June
Lord I've Been Trying
Jerusalem
The Drugs Don't Work
Come On People (We're Making It Now)
The Crab
A Little Bit Of Love
Lord I Guess I'll Never Know
Monte Carlo
Oh Sister
New York
One More For the Lovers
It Takes Two

CD rip to mp3s
Expand your Verve here

Less haste more Verve

The first Verve recording was not as many assume the album A Storm in Heaven but a wonderful extended play (and at thirty-two minutes very nearly an LP) known simply as The Verve E.P.
Released in 92, it contains the two early singles: 'She's a Superstar' and 'Gravity Grave', and the excellent track 'Feel', by far the best track, and still remains one of my favourite songs of theirs; really anticipating their later accessible psychedelic sound so evident on their first two albums.

This is certainly a more ethereal Verve: less in your face, less preachy and lacking the later adopted arrogance, especially lyrically.

If you liked A Storm in Heaven then this is essential listening.

Tracks:

Gravity Grave (Edit)
A Man Called Sun
She's a Superstar (Edit)

Endless Life
Feel

Get it here

"We are getting back together for the joy of the music." Ashcroft.

This of course being the band's second resurrection, I do believe this recent set at Glastonbury (29/6/08) proves that among the plethora of 'Super-groups' who have graced us with their presence of late, The Verve's may be one of the more creative and meaningful.

Typical of many headlining festival sets it is pretty much their greatest hits; although the version of 'Space and Time' is quite sublime; really encapsulating what it is that makes The Verve one of the greatest contemporary pop acts.

Their album Forth has been mainly criticised in the press for sounding more like A Northern Soul than Urban Hymns.
Well for my money that's no bad thing.
The new songs in this set don't sound at all out of place, and the rendition of the single 'Love is Noise' as a finale was an act of genius.

"Love and peace to all bands.

It's a struggle.
Life's a struggle.

And Monday morning may be a struggle for a lot of you in a job that you despise.

Working for a boss that you despise.

A slave to money then you die.

God bless ya."

Thank you Rich; welcome back.

Set List:
This is Music
Sonnet
Space and Time

Sit and Wonder
History
Velvet Morning
The Drugs Don't Work
Lucky Man
Bittersweet Symphony
Love is Noise

Ripped from TV broadcast.

Get it here